Chinese you—Existential Sentences and English there be Sentences

【Abstract】： Chinese you-existential sentences and English there be sentences are with high frequency and have relatively special features. They have great similarities and differences in syntactic structure and semantic relations. It is helpful to understand the relationship and difference between them for us.

【Key words】： you； there be； syntactic；semantic

1. Syntactic contrast

Syntactic structure is composed of words， and the word obtains its own part of speech and meaning in the process of forming syntactic structure. Naturally， a sentence is to comply with the order before and after national grammar.

1.1 Structural model

Chinese structure model：

A： you +NP+在+time/place+ other ingredients

B：time/place+you +NP+ other ingredients

English structure model：

A： there be +NP+ time and where phrase+other ingredients

B： time and where phrase + there be+NP+ other ingredients

Their main features are：

From A ， the tense words of Chinese you-existential sentences and Enligh there be sentences can be placed on the noun phrase that expresses the existence of things， namely NP， such as：

（1） a.有兩條魚在池子里。

b.There are two fishes in the pool.

c.有兩個老人在客廳里。

d. There are two old people in the living room.

In （1a）， when you-existential sentence emphasizes time and place of things， the words that mean time and place are usually placed in the first sentence， rarely placed at the end of the sentence. Such as：

In there be sentences， time and place are generally placed at the end of the sentence. Only when time and place need to emphasize or need to link preceding part of text， the words are placed in the beginning of the sentence.But there is often omitted.

（2） a. In the pool （there） are two fishes.

b. In the living （there） are two old room man.

1.2 Syntactic components

1.2.1 Subject

You-existential sentences have two kinds of patterns： subject predicate sentences and non subject predicate sentences. Subject of you-eistential sentences is mostly made of noun， place noun， orientation noun， time noun， noun phrase， personal pronoun， prepositional phrase， demonstrative pronoun.

（4） a.王村 有 個塔。 （地點名詞作主語）

Wangcun has a tower. （subject is place noun）

b.山上 有 個廟。 （方位名詞作主語）

On the mountain there is a temple. （subject is location noun）

c. 夏 有 電扇， 冬 有 暖氣。 （時間名詞作主語）

summer has electric fan， winter has heating fan. （subject is time noun）

d.村外的黃土路上 有人 在走。（名詞性短語作主語）

village outside the Loess road someone walking. （subject is noun phrase）

e.他 有個妹妹。（人稱代詞作主語）

He has a sister. （personal pronoun as subject）

f.在那里 有 五千多人。（介詞短語作主語）

In there there are more than 5 thousand people. （ subject is preposition phrase）

g.那里 有 五千多人。（指示代詞作主語）

In there there are more than 5 thousand people. （subject is demonstrative pronoun ）

After there be， the real subject is represented by a noun phrase that indicates the existence of a thing. Adverb or prepositional phrase that represents a place put in behind of the noun.

h.There is an egg in box.

i.There are four/several eggs in the box.

Through the above examples can be seen： nouns can be used in two sentences. In addition to nouns， you-existential sentences can be used as prepositional phrases and demonstrative pronouns. There be sentences generally have a noun phrase as the subject. Generally， you-existential sentence is made of prepositional phrases nouns， demonstrative place nouns， time and locative nouns as the subject can be translated into there be sentences， which means that they are corresponding relationship. Above examples in （4b） may be translated into the following there be sentences， indicated by （5a）.

（5） a.There is a temple on the hill.

2.2.2 Components of before subject

In you-existential sentences， adjectives， verb object phrases and quantitative words can be used to modify the subject. There be put a/an or cardinal in front of the subject in general.

（7） a.那里的山上 有 一個塔。

on the hill there is a tower

b.穿紅衣服的女孩 有 兩個妹妹。

the girl in red has two sisters.

c.她的一雙眼睛有 一種 說不出的 美。

her eyes have a kind of can not tell beauty.

d. There is a book in the desk.

e. There are two books in the desk.

In （7a）， adjective 那里的modifies the subject 山上. In （7b） of verb object phrase 穿紅衣服的 modify the subject 女孩. In （7c）， 一雙modify subject 眼睛， but in 一雙front definite word 她的 defined in particular. In （7d）， subject 書use article a to modify. Normally， a can not be omitted. In （7e）， the subject of book use two to modify， in the corresponding book followed by s.

2. Semantic contrast

2.1 Common

You means the existential-verb. Subject is generally said it in front of the place or time of the phrase and it behind the object represented by existing things as phrases， together form a semantic： where or when exist some things. There be is a verb that indicates the existence. It is usually followed by a phrase that represents the existence things which followed by a prepositional phrase representing the place or time that represents the existence. Therefore，they have three parts.In addition， the words that represent the existence of things generally appear in the presence of the verb， which is you or there be behind.

2.2 Different

2.2.1 Existence

Chinese noun phrases can not be put place or time in you behind， but English will generally put the location and time of words in behind be and indicates the presence of things. Put them in the front is rarely. For example （4a），it cannot say 有王村個塔；but there be sentences can.

2.2.2 Possession

You-existential sentences contain a possessiveor connected meaning. Possessive refers to the object belonging to the subject. The relationship between subject and object is whole and part. The subject and object are often nominal words in this sentences.

（9） a. 我 有 兩只手。

I have two hands.

b. 每臺機器 有 近百個零件。

Each machine has nearly one hundred parts.

In cases （9a） and （9b）， the object 手and 零件belong to subject 我 and機器. The objects in the two cases are the components of the subject.

Connected sentences with a relation refers to the object owned or possessed by the subject. Subject and object are generally nominal words. For example：

c.他 有 媽媽。

He has a mother.

d.他 工作 有 一定的成績。

He in his work has certain achievements .

3. Conclusion

There are many similarities and differences in the syntactic structure， semantic relation and pragmatic function of two sentences. They have similar structural patterns and syntactic components.They have existential verbs， premises or time， and existential phrases. But there is a difference in word order. The Chinese puts premises or time phrases in the front； English generally places the noun phrase behind there be. There are similarities and differences in the semantic relations that exist. However，it is not the possession and ownership.